For those of you who don’t know, I attend the University of Tampa. It’s a prestigious private school that’s difficult to get into (and very expensive, but I don’t pay for it) and I’m happy to be there for the most part. I am a Communications major with an emphasis in film & video production. This semester, I enrolled in a photography course… thinking it was going to be easy. I thought, “Great… I’ll get a grade for doing what I’m already doing anyway.” It’ll be that easy, right?

Haha. I knew a few things were going to be different and that was OK. I imagined the course would help me establish a new found respect for the art and help me fill in a few technical gaps I may have missed through my self-taught process. The first time we processed and developed our film, coupled with the printing process, was a very humbling experience for someone who has been doing photography for a good part of 2 years now. But it presented a challenge… I like that.

The second project of this course needed to be 5 shots of a series or sequence of some sort. Since I had a photoshoot with Marrese Crump coming up, I figured I’d bring along my 35mm camera and kill two birds with one stone. Here are the digital versions of the prints I turned in for the project:

Obviously, the sequence is of a martial artist going through a workout, beginning to end. Another small element I incorporated was the small white towel in each shot. The white towel tells a story of how, we as a people, are sentimental by nature. This grown man, a warrior, feels the need to carry this towel everywhere he goes… especially during a workout. It’s much like a toddler carrying around his security blanket. This isn’t actually the case for Marrese, but it was a small element that had a story for anyone who noticed the towel in every shot.

So the class posts up their work on the wall and I partake in my first official critique where we discuss what we think of eachothers work, series by series. I started out by discussing a friend’s series based on the economic crisis. Her last shot was of a bum sitting on a street corner. I wish I could show you the shot, but to explain… the bum was framed on the right side looking to the right. This meant he was looking right at the edge of the print. We can’t see what he was looking at.

I had commented how I feel that shot was the strongest print of the series because of the framing. Normally when you shoot a subject looking to the right, you want to frame them on the left to give them a clear line of sight through the photograph. This gives a feeling of comfort. I felt this print was strong because the subject didn’t have a clear line of sight, insighting a sense of tension and anxiety. This is a concept that I subconsciously knew for a long time and was brought into a much clearer context in a Film Production course I’m also presently taking. I’m not sure if it was done intentionally, but I think it was very fitting, considering the subject matter. I interpreted it as this homeless person not having a clear view of the future, which most of us can relate to.

Well I got shot down like a WWII Kamikaze. The professor looked at me like I was crazy and said she didn’t understand my concept of how the framing and composition of the subject invoked any sort of grim feeling or tension. She was a Fine Arts major with a Masters by the way. Class participation is part of our grade, but after attempting to offer my thoughts a few times after that, I gave up and was quiet throughout the rest of class. I didn’t feel singled out though, as she did the same thing to a few others in the class. Anytime anyone stepped up to express their feelings and thoughts on a series, the professor proceeded to tell us how we should ‘actually’ feel, based on the subject matter and use of lighting. For anyone who knows me, you can imagine… I don’t like to be told how to think OR feel.

So the second series that was picked to go over was mine that you saw above. From the class, I had gotten quite a bit of positive feedback as well as a few areas of improvement. Mainly, the last two prints could have been exposed a little longer to bring out a richer black. I took both types of critique with stride and an open mind. That’s the whole point.

She said it was decent work, but they didn’t create a ‘circle of interest’ (or whatever she called it), with the exception of the third shot. She said this circle draws the viewer into the shot, . Why? Because his head, arm and water bottle actually make a bit of a circle! Are you kidding me?! It appears I can pass this class with flying colors if I don’t do much more with my composition than to incorporate an enclosed circle of sorts. This bothers me on many levels, especially after my discussions with Celtic Rebel on the subject and his blog entry that followed.

When discussing my work, I also told the story of the towel. She said she didn’t get that at all because of my composition and that she barely noticed that the towel was in every shot as a result. I attempted to explain to her that the towel was just a side element and was not the main concept that the composition was supposed to reflect, but it didn’t matter. She’s the ‘teacher’ and I’m the ’student’. Case closed. But let me make one thing clear here:

I don’t create art for other artists… I don’t take pictures for other photographers… and I don’t make films for other filmmakers.

I do it for myself and for the people.

My viewer, my audience. My work may not be technically sound, but just because “that’s how it’s always been done” doesn’t mean that’s how I want to do it. Now I’m not trying to bash my professor, but I imagine at a minimum… I am Communications oriented and she is Fine Arts oriented, and the concepts and philosophies between the two appear to differ greatly. Coupled with our own personal concepts and philosophies as individuals, it didn’t make for a very fun evening.

But a grade is a grade. And since I need a good one in this class or else I’ll actually have to pay for the class myself (and it’s too late to drop it), I will create the rest of my prints with her feedback in mind. And when it’s all said and done and class is over, I’m taking everything I ‘learned’ in this class and throwing it right out the window. And I won’t be taking any more ‘Fine Arts’ classes, at least not with the same professor. All the other Communications and Production courses I’ve taken so far have been great and I’ve learned a lot. What a waste of time in this class though.

But to end on a positive note, I had mentioned the feedback I had gotten from my fellow classmates. Apart from what was mentioned in the discussion, a few others had felt the apparent tension and had come up to me afterward, one-on-one, and stated variations of: “Don’t worry, I really liked your work.”

One comment made during the discussion struck a chord in my heart:

“They look like shots straight out of a Gatorade commercial.”

I’ll take that, thank you very much!

While going through a workout over at Tampa Muay Thai, martial artist Marrese Crump invited his friend Anesti Vega of Elamintal Multimedia to snap a few photos and hope to capture the essence of Marrese’s warrior spirit. This was a bit of an undertaking considering Marrese’s speed and agility made every other snapshot a complete blur.

When it was all said and done, Anesti was able to capture some beautiful movements and moments throughout the workout that included a warmup, Capoeira, Muay Thai, Kali and Jiu-Jitsu. If you would like to share your comments and/or thoughts on them, please feel free to do so here!

My Son: Geo Ioannis Vega

(The middle name is Greek, pronounced “Yannis”)

Born February 15, 2009 at 5:47PM in Tampa, FL

8lbs. 6oz.   22in long!